Columnist Sue Hutchison (Page 1C, Aug. 20) attempts to refute arguments against a single-payer health care system, painting a utopian picture of a system that is nothing short of disastrous. Under a single-payer system, the government has sole control over health care coverage, so it controls how and when money can be allocated to health care expenses. With this system, government bureaucrats will be charged with saving money for the government – not patients’ lives. The current health care system is in need of reform, but a single-payer system is not the cure for universal access to proper coverage. We need to seek alternative solutions, such as free-market competition, and not assume government-run care is in our best interest.

John Ghysels
Pleasant Hill

Cell phone use ban

is a good start

With SB 33, State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, is proposing to make it illegal for drivers under 18 to talk on a cell phone or send text messages while driving. Your editorial board (Editorial, Aug. 21) believes this is a good idea. The editorial briefly acknowledges at the end of the opinion that it is not smart for any driver to use a phone while driving. A letter on the adjacent Opinion page from Stephen Wolgast talks about how dangerous it is to cross Central Expressway on a bicycle. Operating a motor vehicle and a cellular phone at the same time is dangerous for motorists and bicyclists alike. My 11-mile bicycle commute from the Union Avenue/Blossom Hill area to work at Cabrillo Middle School in Santa Clara is generally a very pleasant and safe one. I urge you to support SB 33. Save yourself, save a bicyclist.

Bruce Halen
San Jose

`Faith healing’

easily explained

The “placebo effect” has been demonstrated in hundreds of scientific studies. Many patients will lower their subjective ratings of pain dramatically because something – a pill, an incantation, a faith healer’s touch – has triggered a belief in pain relief. Placebos can even create measurable change 25 percent to 40 percent of the time in other symptoms such as tumor growth – at least temporarily. The mind’s influence on the body’s health is profound, with no divine intervention required. If faith healers (Page 1A, Aug. 21) really had access to a “higher power,” their healings would go beyond what is easily explainable by medical science and psychology. Let them regrow a patient’s amputated limb or completely cure someone of genetic defect or disease before we accept their cries: “It’s a miracle.” Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.

Henry Ruddle
San Jose

Stars should suffer

the consequences

There are enough actors, athletes and wannabes not to have to put up with the illegal activities and bad manners of those who abuse their star status, such as Michael Vick. If, as a society, we really are concerned how the idolization of celebrities will affect our youth, professional athletic organizations and Hollywood need to get on board and refuse employment to those who engage in illegal activities. For until they do, our youth will never see a true consequence for their actions and rehab and jail will just be part of the star status scene.

T.H. Ferraro
San Jose

S.J. isn’t serious

about mass transit

That mass transit is broken – at least the light-rail part – can largely be attributed to the city forcing all light-rail paths through the city core for strictly political reasons. In so doing, they have taken the “rapid” out of rapid transit, and have crippled the system. For example, from South San Jose, it is slightly faster to get to Cisco Systems via bus than via light rail. Or, another way, looking at the light-rail schedule from Santa Teresa to Cisco, more than half the transit time is spent in the few blocks of downtown. If San Jose is really serious about transit, it will give up trying to force people to go where they don’t want to go and run light rail all the way up Highway 87. It will never happen.

Doug Claar
San Jose

Don’t spend tax

money helping rich

Here we go again. The runaway money train is spending $700,000 to bring more business to the rich downtown developers and owners again. Our city officials want to move the Cirque du Soleil to downtown (Page 1B, Aug. 20) because they won’t even try to attract business on their own. Just look at the Santana Row model and see what works. Free parking, entertainment, interesting shops and, yes, Starbucks, with music and grass. I know it’s fake grass, but the kids don’t care. And, more important, Santana Row gets no handout from taxpayers. I suggest we spend the taxpayers’ money on the people footing the bill, us.

Manuel Barrera
San Jose

We can make it

easy to be green

Sunday’s article (Page 1A, Aug. 19) asked why, when Silicon Valley residents care about the environment, so few take public transit. The answer was in the story: “Unless both homes and jobs are convenient to transit, people must drive, no matter how `green’ they are.” When people live and work near transit, transit use increases tenfold. We need more homes and jobs along bus lines and near train stations. The demand is there. City leaders can meet this demand by approving more developments that put homes, shops and jobs close to transit. Let’s make it easy to be green.

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HAYWARD — When it comes to entering the professional world, Alex Baker says he and other Cal State East Bay staff members know how important it is to dress for success at job interviews, where appearances on paper and in person matter the most. For some students, particularly those facing food or housing issues, borrowing or buying clothes for that...